This is a serious thread and question. The only thing that puts stock trading... On a higher MORAL PLANE than casino gambling... Or playing 3 Card Monte on the street corner... And makes it a socially respectable profession... Is the fact that your trading activity ** increases the efficiency ** of the capital markets... That are the very foundation of America and it's Capitalist System... And translates into immense economic and social good. So when grandma goes to buy/sell some stock... She pays a little less... or gets a little more... Because some independent trader has bid more than another trader... And enhanced market efficiency. Can someone give me a specific example... Of a form of ** market manipulation for profit **... that "enhances efficiency". Or conversely... Can someone give me an example... Of a perfectly legal, non-manipulative form of scalping... That "decreases efficiency". In other words DISPROVE the following where scalping = short term trading: All scalping that "decreases market efficiency"... Is a form of market manipulation and illegal whether enforced or not... And All scalping that "enhances market efficieny"... Is non-manipulative and legal.
If good news comes out on a stock intraday and i immediately buy 1000 shares at market, would i be increasing or decreasing efficiency?
Here are my 1st and 2nd laws of market efficiency: If your action makes the market less predictable, your are contributing to its efficiency. It cost money to make market efficient - the wining traders basically make market efficient at lower-than-average cost.